This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 13 October 2014 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires Improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Violet Lane Medical Practice on 5 April 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had some systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. However, the provider did not have a clear system in place to manage medicines and safety alerts and had not undertaken risk assessments to ensure safe care for staff and service users.
• The practice reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Some of the patients we spoke to reported that the appointment system was not easy to use and reported that they were not able to get appointments.
• There was a focus on learning and improvement.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way for service users including implementing and monitoring effective systems and processes for; managing medicines and safety alerts and undertake risk assessments to ensure the safety of staff and service users.
• Ensure staff receive training relevant to their role including infection control, basic life support, information governance and Mental Capacity Act training.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review practice procedures to ensure details of fire drills are recorded to ensure learning.
• Improve uptake of childhood immunisations, learning disability health checks, breast and bowel cancer screening.
• Continue to improve outcomes for patients with long-term conditions.
• Review practice procedures to improve access to appointments and telephone access to the practice.
• Improve communication for patients with hearing impairments.
• Review practice procedures to ensure the Patient Participation Group (PPG) is re-established.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Violet Lane Medical Practice on 13 October 2014. Breaches of legal requirements were found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach of regulation 21(a)(i) Requirements relating to workers of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010.

We undertook this desk-based focussed inspection on 31 May 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Violet Lane Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Overall the practice is rated as Good. Specifically, following the focussed inspection we found the practice to be good for providing safe services. As the practice was now found to be providing good services for safety, this affected the ratings for the population groups we inspect against. Therefore, it was also good for providing services for older people; people with long-term conditions; families, children and young people; working age people (including those recently retired and students); people whose circumstances make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Risks to patients were assessed and well-managed, specifically those related to chaperoning.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Violet Lane Medical Practice is a GP practice based in Croydon. The practice provides primary care services to 10,500 patients. We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 13 October 2014.

We inspected The Violet Lane Medical Practice site. The practice has no other sites.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Overall the practice is rated as good. However improvements are required for safe because reception staff acting as chaperones did not have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. However risks to patients were assessed and well managed and there were enough staff to keep people safe.

• The practice provided evidence based care with reference to guidance from organisations such as National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current legislation.

• The practice provided support to its patients during periods of bereavement. Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in care and treatment decisions. The practice had a Patient Participation Group (PPG).The PPG members told us that the practice worked closely with them and their views were taken on board.

The practice reviewed the needs of their local population and engaged with the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to secure service improvements where these were identified.

We found that the practice had a clear vision and strategy to deliver care. Staff were clear about the vision and their responsibilities in relation to this. There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

• Action Ensure that reception staff acting as chaperones have current Disclosure and Barring Checks (DBS) Reg 21.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice